The present invention relates to a method and to a device for the magnetic treatment of water used in agriculture, particularly for irrigation of plants and for watering of domestic animals.
Magnetic treatment of water and other liquids has been known for a number of years, the purpose of the treatment being preventing build-up of scale in the pipes and vessels through which the water flows. The devices used for this treatment comprise essentially a multi-pole magnet positioned in an inner casing of a non-magnetic material, concentrically mounted in an outer tubular casing of a magnetic material, water flowing along the annular duct formed between the inner and the outer casing. The magnet creates a strong magnetic field which has an outer limit defined by the outer casing of magnetic material. The treatment deforms the molecules of the suspended minerals in a way preventing their adhering to the walls of the pipes and vessels along which they flow and thus preventing formation of scale. The molecules return to their original alignment after a few hours, and it is known that for recirculating water or other liquids the treatment is advantageously repeated for every circuit.
Multi-pole magnets for this purpose were originally manufactured by Kentune Inc. Fort Wayne, U.S.A., and they are still the most suitable for this kind of treatment. The original patent having expired, various modifications and additions to the original design have been patented, by the above firm and by others, with the object of either better securing the magnet or for treating only a given part of the water, as in the case of vehicle cooling by recirculation through a radiator, or with other purposes in mind.
A few years ago we learned of experiments regarding magnetic treatment of water for irrigation of plants and for wateriung livestock, which were carried out in both Russia and China. The results shown indicated improvement in growth and quality of the agricultural products, but as far as we know, these tests were not continued, probably due to the lack of suitable equipment; in any case, no commercial equipment has been brought onto the market in either country. This information induced us to make experiments with magnetically treated water for irrigation of plants and for watering cattle and other livestock, whilst using the hitherto known devices for treating the water flowing therethrough. It soon became evident that the existing devices were not adequate and suitable for these purposes for the following reasons: the devices were soon clogged by scale or by impurities in the water; the water was not always suitably treated owing to incorrect flow conditions; after a few hours the water returned to its original state which did not permit its storage in overhead tanks--as used in poultry growing--, or its standstill in pipes--as with in cattle watering stations--; not all water was suitable for magnetic treatment, especially near-pure water; water temperature became too high, especially recirculated water, and the treatment did not give the desired results.
After years of in-vivo experimentation we found that there are relevant and critical conditions regarding the nature of the water to be treated, hydraulic flow conditions, magnetic flux, magnetic field intensity and direction, which have to be fulfilled in order to obtain improved and accelerated growth of plants and animals. During experimentation we improved the water treatment and found that, in addition to faster growing, the quality of both plant and animal was raised owing to the so-treated water given to them. While growing poultry, cattle, sheep and swine, results showed increased milk yield, better utilization of fodder, increased proportion of meat to fat and other improvements. Poultry showed increased egg production as well as the aforementioned results. Plants irrigated with treated water showed, in addition to faster growth, larger, healthier and greener leaves and larger and sweeter fruit. It was also noticed that the plants required less fertilizer and that the growing season could be lengthened.
In order to attain these results we found that apparatus for magnetic treatment as well as the water flow conditions should fulfill the following conditions: (1) laminar or nearly laminar flow; (2) vertical upwards flow through the device; (3) magnetic flux density to be between 950 and 3200 gauss (4) the alternating multi-pole magnets to contain between 4 and 8 poles; (5) magnetic field vector to be substantially perpendicular to water flow vector; (6) spacing and numbers of poles to be determined so as to obtain a predetermined frequency of polarity acting on the water molecules at a predetermined flow velocity; (7) means to be provided to keep the device clean and free of scale and dirt accumulation; (8) both the cover of non-magnetic material as well as the tubular casing of magnetic material to be protected against corrosion and pitting by chemical action or by magneto-hydrodynamically generated voltage; (9) temperature of the water flowing through the device to be below 80.degree. C.